Photography Tutorials — Lighting

Sometimes our hard drives become a mess of misnamed folders and misplaced images. We don’t know how it happens, but it does. Luckily, Lightroom gives us a few options for quick and easy folder discovery and organization.

“Flashy” looking photos, red eyes, and washed out subjects – a misguided flash in the hands of the wrong person can cause horrendous results. Some photographers avoid flash photography altogether, while others only use it when it’s dark, and there are few options available for lighting.

White sets the key light from above at 100 percent, creating a sharp, full light. The lower light (with an added diffuser) is set at 40 percent, which helps to fill in the spaces and create natural light fall on the model. To create distance and pull the subject off the background, a third Skylux lights the backdrop. White shoots at f/2.8, 1/100 of a second, and at ISO 200.

We all know that photography is about capturing light. We all know that the basic setup for a portrait requires three lights. Now for the ugly part: buying good quality studio PORTRAIT LIGHTS is expensive! Enter photography reflectors.

Photography can be an expensive enterprise, especially when going for the perfect portrait shot. Most professional photographers (and many amateurs) use complex and expensive lighting setups for portraiture, yet it’s totally possible to capture great portraits using less equipment.

Although I cover a lot of photographic genres, my main interest has always been portraiture. I’ve always enjoyed the challenge of getting the best possible shot of people – even when they insist that they never take a good photo! This is a photograph from a shoot that took place around 8 years ago, but it’s still one of my favourite shots.

Light painting is a popular technique used by photographers to make creative images that make viewers wonder, “How’d they do that?” While it isn’t necessarily difficult to get started in light painting, it does get increasingly challenging and more time consuming the more advanced you get.

Continuous lighting are great to use when taking portraits; there is no guess work when trying to determine what lighting pattern you’re setting up. Since the lights never go off, you can automatically see how the light will look in your photographs.

“If I just had a better camera, I could take better photos.” How often have you heard someone say something like this? While it is nice to have the latest and greatest photo gear, if you are relying on expensive cameras to make your photography better, you might be in for a surprise.

For many pro photographers, studio lights are an essential part of kit. As a portrait photographer, I can honestly say I’d never be without them. They allow you to control the light to a finite degree and open up endless creative possibilities.